ANTH512 - EXPERIMENTAL LITHIC TECH

Stone tools are the most significant source of information about past human behavior and evolution over the past 2.5 million years. But because stone technology has been largely abandoned, archaeologists often rely on experiments to help them determine how such tools were made and used. This course will review the kinds of experiments most often used (both actualistic and replicative), but will focus on understanding the mechanics of stone flaking through controlled experiments. As part of their study, students will take part in both designing and implementing a series of experiments involving mechanical flaking of molded glass cores, and will apply the results of this research to archaeological specimens.